American Journal Of Philological Sciences
8
https://theusajournals.com/index.php/ajps
VOLUME
Vol.05 Issue05 2025
PAGE NO.
8-10
10.37547/ajps/Volume05Issue05-03
The Role and Importance of Folk Creativity in The
Formation of Karakalpak Children's Folklore
Biysenbaev Quwandiq Baxitbay uli
Doctoral student of Nukus State Pedagogical Institute named after Ajiniyaz, Uzbekistan
Received:
08 March 2025;
Accepted:
04 April 2025;
Published:
07 May 2025
Abstract:
The article argues that the formation of Karakalpak children's folklore was based on children's heritage.
Children's songs were typologically compared and genesis issues were analyzed.
Keywords:
Children's folklore, folk games, folk songs, epic works, fairy tales.
Introduction:
In world literary studies, research is
currently being conducted on the genesis of children's
folklore and written literature, the tendency of literary
connections and mutual creative influence in children's
literature, and the evolution of lyrical genres and poetic
forms in children's poetry in the following areas:
identifying the typology of literary fairy tales in world
children's literature; clarifying the genre characteristics
of 21st-century children's literature; identifying the
principles of development and concepts of
development of children's poetry, prose, and drama;
creating a comparative theory of the composition of
genres in world children's literature in order to identify
the specific artistic and aesthetic characteristics of
artistic traditions that determine the principles of
renewal of modern children's literature.
Karakalpak children's literature, nourished by its own
internal sources and the wellsprings of world literature,
has developed as a distinct form of literature.
"The roots of children's literature trace back to the oral
literature created by our people over centuries, its
examples being folk songs about children, children's
folklore, fairy tales, legends, tongue-twisters, riddles,
proverbs and sayings, and legacies related to children
in epic works" [1.17].
METHODS
Regarding children's literature that emerged under the
influence of folklore, N. Davkaraev, Q. Ayimbetov, I.
Qurbanbaev, and Q. Makhsetov have expressed their
views and concepts and classified them in Karakalpak
literary studies and folklore studies. For example,
considering the characteristics of children's poems, N.
Davkaraev notes: "These characteristics are primarily
found in their collective recitation, secondly, during the
performance of folk games, and thirdly, in their
question-and-answer format," and he points out their
thematic diversity, dividing them into types and genres
[2.136-137]. The scholar examines the performers of
children's literature in folklore, the order of their
performance, and their role in developing children's
thinking and imagination.
Q. Ayimbetov writes that "play-entertainment poems
are children's games, and when children play together
in groups, some of their games are performed with
poetic verses" [3.23-24].
It is known that children's poems or other works
intended for children have been closely related to
games. This is because children, while playing various
games, firstly satisfy their physical needs, and secondly,
by incorporating various poems and other examples of
artistic works into these games, they develop their
thinking and imagination, in other words, they satisfy
their spiritual needs. Literary theorists have expressed
valuable ideas about the harmony between artistic
creation and play.
Thinkers of the 19th-20th centuries expressed valuable
ideas about the role of games in the early stages of
human life. F. Schiller affirms that a person only grows
into a true human being by growing up playing games.
(J. Huizinga, on the other hand, says that human culture
is formed through play. Writers and scholars (L. Tolstoy,
T. Mann, V. F. Pereverzev) explain that artistic creation
itself, in its essence, grew out of play, and it is a type of
play with special characteristics.)
American Journal Of Philological Sciences
9
https://theusajournals.com/index.php/ajps
American Journal Of Philological Sciences (ISSN
–
2771-2273)
RESULTS
In Karakalpak literary studies, the problems of
children's folklore and written literature have been
studied relatively little compared to the literature of
other peoples. In this area, with the exception of the
research of I. Kurbanboev, which appeared in the 70s
of the 20th century, T. Mambetniyazov's book on
Karakalpak children's literature, and K. Palimbetov and
Z. Bekbergenova's textbook on children's literature
intended for vocational colleges [1, 8, 9], there are
almost no large-scale monographic studies devoted to
children's literature. The fact that existing studies have
not fully covered all issues of children's folklore and
literature, and in particular, the materials of Karakalpak
children's literature of the independence period have
not been included in the study, also indicates the need
for a wide-scale study of the evolution, genres, and
poetics of Karakalpak children's literature.
Many folklorists and literary scholars have conducted
scientific research on the genesis, stages of
development, and genre characteristics of such mixed
games in children's folklore. For example, in Russian
folklore studies, G. S. Vinogradov, I. O. Kapitsa, V. P.
Anikin, M. N. Melnikov, A. N. Martinova [4.63], in Uzbek
folklore studies, G. Jahongirov, O. Safarov, S. Avezov, N.
Safarova, and in Karakalpak literary studies, I.
Qurbanboev and others have studied the genetic
origins of children's poems and games from a scientific
point of view. Surprisingly, researchers have
acknowledged the existence of these issues in the
folklore of peoples who are not genetically close to
each other. A clear example of this is the song "Oq
terakmi, ko'k terak" (Is it a white poplar, is it a blue
poplar?), which has been scientifically proven to be
intended for children in the oral traditions of Russian,
Uzbek, Kazakh, Tajik, Tatar, and Karakalpak peoples.
Sh. Galiev, focusing on the historical genesis of the
game "Oq terakmi, ko'k terak," notes its connection to
the ancient tribal period, while R. Yag'farov emphasizes
that the main root of the game goes back to the ancient
customs of worshiping the "tree" I. O. Safarov, having
collected several variants of this game, identifies their
similarities and calls them "dialogue-games" [5.196].
N. Safarova links the genesis of the poem "Oq terakmi,
ko'k terak" to mythological views. She emphasizes that
it reflects the worship of the poplar tree by our
ancestors. She notes that the transition to verse
occurred as a result of people understanding white as a
symbol of "happiness and greatness" and perceiving
blue as a symbol of eternity, while white poplar is softer
and blue poplar is harder [6.47].
It is possible to observe the similarity of songs in
children's folklore to the games and songs performed
in Russian, Tatar, Kazakh, Turkmen, Tajik, Dagestani,
Georgian, Latvian, and other world peoples. Therefore,
the need for a comparative study of typological
similarities and differences in children's songs is clearly
felt in the present era.
Fairy tales, on the other hand, are likely to have
originated from myths, legends, and narratives. This is
because mythical and legendary plots and characters
can be found in fairy tales.
V. Ya. Propp, a researcher of fairy tales in Russian
folklore, explains that folk tales are not a simple
reflection of real-life events but rather their poetic
transformation [7.107]. P. Shermukhammedov's
doctoral dissertation addresses the emergence,
development, and formation of genres of 20th-century
Uzbek children's literature. The dissertation argues that
the 1920s were years of searching for aesthetic
directions and genre improvement for Uzbek children's
literature. It analyzes the works of S. Ayni, Elbek, Shokir
Sulaymon, Sultan Jura, Majid Fayzi, Zafar Diyor, Ilyos
Muslim, and Shukur Sa'dulla, who created in those
years.
Another major study conducted on Uzbek children's
literature is Ohunjon Safarov's doctoral dissertation
titled "Genre Structure and Poetics of Uzbek Children's
Poetic Folklore."
CONCLUSIONS
The roots of Karakalpak children's literature at the end
of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries go
back to national folklore. Children's folklore has grown
and developed over centuries in order to satisfy the
spiritual world and physical needs of children. Children
performed various games, art forms, and literary works
in a mixed manner. This phenomenon created a
foundation for their intellectual, spiritual, and physical
development.
Another support for the emergence of children's
literature is ancient written literature, as well as the
literature of Turkic-speaking peoples. Although a
special children's literature did not form in ancient
Turkic literature, its ideological and artistic foundations
began to emerge. Didactic thoughts and reflections
developed widely precisely in Turkic literatures, and
this, in turn, corresponded to the education and
upbringing of children. Similarly, the existence of works
intended for children among the peoples of Europe,
Central and Middle Asia even in ancient times and their
artistic evolution contributed to the enrichment of
national literatures. The artistic evolution of the plot of
Karakalpak folk tales and the artistic reinterpretation of
riddles and tongue-twisters have formed the basis for
the diversity and development of the genre structure
of modern children's literature. Therefore, it is natural
American Journal Of Philological Sciences
10
https://theusajournals.com/index.php/ajps
American Journal Of Philological Sciences (ISSN
–
2771-2273)
that studying the typology of genres in folklore and
children's literature allows literary studies to arrive at
significant scientific conclusions.
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